First Nations overall five times more likely to overdose, despite being just 3.4% of population, health authority and mental health minister reveal.

by David Ball, Metro Vancouver News, August 3, 2017

The statistics are as shocking as the “horrific” crisis they measure, British Columbia’s new mental health minister, Judy Darcy, warned Thursday.

First Nations women in B.C. were eight time more likely to overdose on drugs than non-First Nations women, and First Nations overall were five times more likely to overdose. As for fatal overdoses, the news was equally grim: one-in-ten B.C. drug deaths last year was First Nations. Read the rest of this entry →

Splatsin First Nation Chief Kukpi7 Wayne Christian says fentanyl is having a devastating effect in communities across the Secwepemc Nation, where a state of emergency was declared in March 2017.

But leaders say they don’t have data to confirm suspicions

By Linda Givetash, The Canadian Press, April 30, 2017

First Nations leaders in British Columbia say they suspect fentanyl is having a disproportionate impact on their communities, but they can’t get the numbers to prove it.

Grand Chief Edward John of the First Nations Summit said he’s been asking the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) and other provincial authorities for the data since last fall, but nothing has yet been delivered. Read the rest of this entry →